In non-English speaking countries, the range of academic fields of the members of a national Academy of Science often includes scholarly disciplines which would not normally be classed as "science" in English. Many languages use a broad term for systematized learning which includes both natural and social sciences and fields such as literary studies, history, or art history, which are not typically considered "sciences" in English. For example, the Australian Academy of Sciences is an organization of natural scientists, reflecting the English use of the term "scientist". There are separate academies for Arts, Humanities and Social Science. The Hungarian "Academy of Science" (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia), however, has members from many other areas of academia. Presumably, the Hungarian term tudomány has been translated as "science" in a broader sense, as it was used in English 200 years ago, and is still used in French and other languages. (Even though the name 'Hungarian Academy of Knowledge' would be a better translation.)

As the engineering sciences have become more varied and advanced, there is a recent trend in many advanced countries to organize the National Academy of Engineering (or Engineering Sciences), separate from the national Academy of Sciences.